Flutter
by teenage-dirtbag
Summary: Sometimes a couple of thousand miles away could bring two people closer than they think.


A/N: I like Blair and Chuck (especially Chuck's speech during Lily and Bart's wedding) but I love Blair and Nate. Even their names sound better together (purist much?) Anyway, hope you like this!

**Disclaimer: I don't own either the show or the books. **

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**Flutter**

"Isn't it better out here?" Serena giggled, lying on the silky white bed, the sun radiating in her golden hair. "You can actually see the sun!"

"Yeah," Nate replied, looking around.

Serena cocked her head and surveyed him. He seemed more smouldering than usual. "Come on, let's not waste such a beautiful day indoors!" she said, hoping that the scenery would remind him of the days when he, Serena and Blair would play hide and seek on the property.

"_Here I come!" Nate called out, running around the lush garden. Serena peeked from underneath a bush, admiring how Nate's eyes were greener than the leaves. She smiled to herself. She could see Blair's Dior doll shoes peeking from behind the old oak tree. _

"_There you are!" Nate said, catching Blair. She squealed delightedly and put her arms around him as he spun her around joyously. Serena watched, a sad smile forming on her face. She looked down and played with the hem of her pink Lily Pulitzer dress, wondering if Nate even noticed. _

"_I found you, S!" Blair cooed in delight. She lifted her best friend up and gave her a tight hug as Nate's laughter resonated in the background. Serena found herself laughing along._

"We can go to the beach later," Serena proposed, "then we can, I don't know, rent a movie or something and eat dinner in front of the TV."

"Sounds great," Nate answered, fingering the newly trimmed hedges. "You always hid behind those," he said, pointing to perfectly box-shaped bushes.

Serena was glad. "Yeah, I did. You remembered!"

They sat under the old oak tree and reclined on the trunk for support. They looked around as memories of their childhood came flooding back to them. A yellow butterfly made its way to a flower.

"I remember we were playing hide and seek," Nate recalled wistfully, "and Blair wouldn't leave the tree. She found a cocoon. Blair checked on it everyday, until one day she came back to find it gone." Nate laughed to himself. "You were comforting her inside while I spent the afternoon looking for that butterfly, and she was so happy when I'd found it."

"You okay, Natie?" Serena asked, wondering if she should have convinced Blair to stay in New York. Nate nodded, looking off into the distance.

He wondered what summer would be like in France.

--

Blair looked out the balcony, leaning on the stone railings. She smiled as she recalled how Chuck surprised her last night with a vase full of roses, apologetic for leaving her alone on the helicopter. She was pretty sure it wasn't for that reason alone; he was Chuck Bass and she opted to let it slide for now. She felt a pair of strong arms enveloping her tiny waist, and a kiss on her soft chestnut hair. It seemed too familiar.

"Good morning," Chuck whispered into her ear, and she leaned back on him in delighted response.

"Good morning," she replied, her voice mimicking Audrey's sing-song accent.

"What should we do today?" he asked, "we could go around town or," he kissed her tenderly on the lips, "we could stay in."

"Tempting," Blair answered, "let me think about it after breakfast."

Chuck moved by her side, his arm never leaving hers. He was relishing the fact that Blair was his, _all his_, without so much as an afterthought of Nate. She leaned into his shoulder. She stifled a laugh thinking how ridiculous this must seem, standing like newlyweds at seventeen, most of all, with the Upper East-Side's resident playboy. A bell caught their attention, announcing the arrival of their breakfast. They walked in the room, hand in hand, the cotton curtains dancing around in the wind. The exquisite vase of roses was atop the dresser, and Blair could see something deviating from the crimson.

It was a yellow butterfly.

Blair's breath caught in her throat and she let go of Chuck's hand. "I think they picked the whole orchard for this," Chuck commented, looking at the plate of jewel-toned fruits. "Come eat, you need your strength for later."

Blair followed. Chuck noticed that she couldn't stop staring at the butterfly. He vaguely recalled a story Nate told him about Blair and a butterfly; he'd assumed that Blair, as a little girl, was fond of them. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Blair breathed, putting a strawberry in her mouth and taking quite a large sip of her champagne. "I just,"

Chuck looked at her, waiting for her to continue. "I used to vacation at Serena's house in the Hamptons. I remember finding a cocoon and I was so," Blair smiled sheepishly, "and then one day it was gone and I was," she bit her lip, remembering how Nate spent the afternoon looking for her butterfly. "and then we found it again, and,"

"You miss Serena?" Chuck asked, trying hard to ignore the point of Blair's story and what the butterfly stood for.

"Yeah," Blair sighed, "I guess I miss her." Chuck held her hand from across the table, and Blair couldn't help but wish that it was the hand that caught her butterfly, and along with it her heart, she was holding instead.

She made a mental note to call the airline later and move her flight to New York at a much, much earlier date.

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